


Love Always Has a Light in the Window and Smells Like Bread

by PinkLady80



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Magic, Auston wears the C, Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Abortion, M/M, Mention of Animal Death--No suffering, Mitch is a witch, Mpreg, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:56:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14007642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkLady80/pseuds/PinkLady80
Summary: Mitch Marner rediscovers his worth and Auston Matthews gets a Happily Ever After.





	Love Always Has a Light in the Window and Smells Like Bread

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction. 
> 
> This story contains: Anger at a child for something that is not his fault, deciding that someone is not worthy of love, off-page termination of pregnancy, and a brief mention of the off-page death of two beloved pets.

**ONE (Metamorphosis)**

     Mitch is 11 when the witching burns through him in the middle of the night. He wakes covered in sweat. His bones are on fire. His hair hurts; everything hurts.

     His mind is full of things he doesn't understand. Why does he need to know about babies? Or houses? He knows that babies cry a lot and his mother tells him not to leave his hockey gear where people will fall over it. What else is there?

     His head suddenly feels like someone is driving a nail into and Mitch is afraid he's going to vomit. Hoping to stave it off, he walks slowly to the bathroom for a drink of water.

     After a few successful sips, he looks in the mirror. Maybe he can hide this from parents; just because he feels different doesn't mean he'll look any different. His heart sinks as he stares at himself: his eyes have changed to blue.

     His parents will know something is wrong. Everyone will know.

 

**TWO (Rejection)**

     His father is angry. He yells at Mitch about betrayal, about letting the family down. This was not the plan for Mitch, hockey was.

     Witches are charlatans who prey on the weak-willed, stupid, or lazy. Witches are parasites because the government houses them in neighborhoods filled with decent folk and hands them a undeserving stipend.

     His son is a Hearth witch; the eyes are a giveaway. Hearth witches yap on about babies and healthy feelings. Safe homes. Hearth witches are women and now his son will be doing women's work. Male Hearth witches are carriers. Freaks who will give another man a family instead of being given one.

     Mitch's father doesn't look at him after that.

     Mitch's mother is scared. No one in their family is a witch and no one in their social circle is either.

     How long before the neighbors know? Their friends and coworkers?

     Can they pretend this never happened and keep Mitch safe? Can they keep it a secret from his hockey team and the scouts that come to watch him play?

     Will Mitch's change put her older son in danger? Is her family in danger?

      Mitch's mother only cries when she looks at him.

     His parents fight. At first, Mitch seeks out his brother for comfort, but Chris doesn't understand what is going on and doesn't want him around. He's angry at Mitch for being the cause of the fighting. Why did his younger brother have to mess everything up? They were a happy family before.

     Mitch retreats to his room. In his room, no one is angry at him or ignoring him. His house, a place that once felt safe, is now cold. The only tears in Mitch's room are his own.

     His family is broken, and Mitch is to blame.

 

**THREE (Betrayal)**

     Mitch is 12 when he leaves home.

     The Royal Canadian Magical Police visit his parents and explain that they would like to place their son with a competent witch who can teach him how to manage his gift and model good magical citizenry.

     Mitch's father signs the paperwork almost faster than it can be placed in front of him. By renouncing his son in the eyes of the state he hopes life return to normal. No more lies. No more watching over his shoulder to see if the neighbors are gossiping.

     Mitch's mother has packed some of his things. She doesn't look like his mother anymore; she hasn't felt like his mother for a while.

     No one says anything when Mitch leaves. He hears someone lock the door.

     Mitch cries in the car, sobbing until he falls asleep. When he wakes, the car is in Ottawa and parking in front of Parliament Hill. The RCMP officer leads him inside and passes him off to a frazzled looking Ministry official who will help him register with the Ministry and introduce him to his mentor.

     The paperwork moves slowly, Mitch crying again when he has to tell the Ministry official that he doesn’t have a non-magical emergency contact; his family no longer loves him. The feeling of being unwanted presses on his chest so hard he is almost sick on the floor of the ministry official’s office. She doesn't say anything and brings him a large mug of hot chocolate.

     Mitch doesn't want to drink it because it is the only warmth in his life.

     Two hours later, Mitch is introduced to Gretchen Snow. She's a tall woman, over 182cm, dressed entirely in shades of purple and white hair pulled back in a loose bun. Her face is stern, but her eyes are kind. She makes Mitch feel safe and he wants to grab it with both hands and run away from it. What if she decides he's not worth her time? What if he fails?

     She doesn't make him talk on the ride back to her home in Beacon Hill and she doesn't make him talk as she puts his backpack and small suitcase on the bed in what will be his room for the duration of his stay. He doesn't speak when she guides him into the sun-room on the ground floor and introduces him to Maggie (a very large cat) and Chester (a tiny dog).

     She leaves him to soak up the comfort that only animals can offer.

 

**FOUR (The Guardian)**

     Gretchen doesn't teach him to use magic, he already knows how, but instead teaches him the limitations of magic. The rules overseeing magic related to home, love, and family are deceptively simple.

     Love magic can't force feelings onto another person, it can only empathize what is already present. Love magic does not cause a relationship to be free of conflict. The magic might have pointed someone in the right direction, but a magical relationship is still a relationship. It still requires work to stay strong and healthy.

     Love magic cannot fix domestic violence.

     Hope magic cannot help everyone have a baby; some things are beyond both Science and Magic.

     Hope magic cannot heal a baby that has a genetic disease or who will live only a few minutes after birth.

     Magic cannot terminate a pregnancy. Gretchen and Mitch drive people to the Action Canada clinic. Many people cry on the way. Some people cry because this was a wanted pregnancy gone terribly wrong. Some people cry because they are making the right choice for them and these are tears of relief. Some people don't not cry at all.

     Gretchen's teachings are not all unpleasant. Mitch learns to enjoy the large gardens that surround Gretchen's home. He loves when the gardening catalogs arrive in the darkest part of winter and he can sketch ideas on graph paper. He loves tending the delicate seedlings, helping them thrive.

     The feelings of self-reflection gardening create in him must be the same feeling people get when they practice yoga. Gretchen has done yoga for years, but Mitch's head is too busy with his schoolwork, magic, and hiding his crush on the goalie of his school's hockey team to get any real use out of it.

     That never stops her from asking if he wants to join her and her friends in their backyard for Saturday yoga at 8am. The women say it's for yoga, and everyone arrives dressed for stretching, carrying bright-colored mats, but sometimes Mitch's thinks it's for them to sit in the sun, gossip, and watch their dogs run around the backyard.

     Mitch has done enough unintentional eavesdropping to understand that most of Gretchen's friends have lost their spouses and very few have grown children within easy distance. Many of the women are Hearth witches or people who are familiar with Hearth magic, so relationships and babies are the main topics of conversation. Mitch knows that unless he wants offers to be set-up with every young man around his age within an 81km radius of Gretchen's house, he should be out of the house when they arrive.

     Saturday mornings are a great time to take the extra vegetables from the garden to the local homeless shelter and use the local library to do his homework. Gretchen had pulled some strings when Mitch first came to live with her and secured him a spot at the Ontario Provincial School. OPS is just like most other Canadian schools except Mitch must wear a uniform and all the students are magical. University isn't in his future, the Ministry will assign him to some neighborhood in Who-Knows-Where when he turns 22, but attending school helps him feel like just another kid. Not someone whose parents handed him over to the government.

     With school also come school counselors and Mitch is hardly the only OPS student who is in guardian care. Mitch's counselor is Dr Sneed and the two talked nearly every school day until Mitch turned 16 and now he visits three times a week. Mitch likes Dr Sneed with his salt-and-pepper dreadlocks, overstuffed office furniture, and the picture of Mrs Sneed on his desk. Sometimes Dr Sneed wants to talk about Toronto before and after the magic burned through him but sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes they talk about Mitch's life with Gretchen, the gardens, or Mitch's inconvenient crush on the hockey goalie. Sometimes, they don't talk at all and Mitch does his homework or reads while Dr Sneed moves paper around on his desk.

     Being a magical teenager doesn't mean that talking about sex with grownups is any less horrifying. In fact, Mitch is 100% sure it is worse for him because he's a carrier.

     When he's 14, Gretchen takes him to the Action Canada clinic when they host an all-weekend forum titled "All the Things You Wanted to Know About Sex and A Bunch of Stuff You Didn't". Mitch comes out of the forum having watched videos about sex, been given pamphlets about sex, and listened to people lecture about sex. Mitch has watched porn and has been startled when he accidentally turned on a vibrator, staring while it buzzed away. Sex seems weird; people make stupid faces and there are squelching sounds. Maybe when he's found the right person. He would like to hold a cute boy's hand.

     Just when Mitch thinks Gretchen is done embarrassing him, she informs him that he has an OBGYN appointment to make sure he's healthy and to discuss birth control options. Mitch wants to die in a ditch far, far away. Even worse, she goes into the office with him and asks a lot of questions because Mitch can't hear anything the doctor is saying. All the blood has rushed to his face.

     By the end of his appointment: Mitch has a birth control implant that will last until he's 22, watched three videos of carriers giving birth, and been asked if he needs any condoms.

      After the birthing videos, the answer to that question is no. Mitch does not need any condoms because Mitch isn't letting a foreign penis get close to him. He's 14 with two fully-functioning hands; he can continue to jerk off in the shower.

     Being a teen witch isn't all crippling embarrassment, some of it is sweet. As a Hearth witch, Mitch has an Intended; a soulmate. The one prefect person who will make Mitch's magic stronger; someone to build a home and family with. An equal; some Mitch can lean on and be leaned on in return.

     Mitch wonders about his soulmate. What kind of guy has the universe picked out for him? He hopes they are tall and like hugs. He also hopes that the universe gives him a clear sign when they meet; Mitch doesn’t want to miss him.

 

**FIVE (Mitch)**

     When Mitch is 22, the Ministry gives him his first assignment; Toronto. In a city of 6 million people, the chances of Mitch running into anyone he knew before the burning is slim. He's still nervous.

     After 10 years in Ottawa, Mitch doesn't know if he's ready to leave Gretchen's home, a place of warmth and safety, and the woman who took in a broken child and helped him heal. Helped him grow into someone Mitch can be proud of when he looks in the mirror.

     The day before he leaves, Mitch walks through the house and allows his memories of the house to flow; like water over smooth rocks. His bedroom hasn't changed much in the ten years he spent in it. The same blue quilt is on top of the bed and he had taken down his posters of plants and flowers earlier that day.

     He walks through the kitchen, the heart of any Hearth witch's home. Mitch wants his own kitchen to be just like this one, a place with lots of sunshine and south-facing windows. A place that always smells like bread. A place where all the people Mitch loves the most can sit together, eat together, laugh together. Life happens in the kitchen. Love happens in the kitchen.

      The sun-room is still the domain of the four-legged members of the household, although Maggie and Chester crossed the rainbow bridge when Mitch was in high school. Ruling in their places are Duchess (a Siamese) and Rupert (a Dachshund). They show their love by waking Mitch at 6am for breakfast and winding themselves around his ankles when he comes into the house through the back porch. Mitch knows he'll need a fuzzy friend in his new house. A house isn't a home without one.

     That night, after dinner is eaten and the dishes are washed, Gretchen takes Mitch's hand and her feelings sink into his skin. There are so many feelings. Sadness because Toronto is five hours away. Pride because Mitch is a strong magic user and a thoughtful human being. Fear because what if he runs into Those People? Love is the foundation for all her emotions. It is steady and warm like a carefully banked fire. Her love will always be present; a lamp in the window on a dark, cold night. A beacon that points the way to safety. A sign of welcome.

     This woman is his mother. Mitch has a mom! He grabs both of her hands in his as the tears slide down his face. She allows this until his nose starts to run. She makes him blow it before using the palm of her hand to wipe away the salty trails on his face. Smooths the hair away from his eyes. He thinks the hug she gives him could crush a bear.

     Mitch leaves some of his things in Ottawa. His mom doesn't mind.

     The Ministry sets him up with a house in the Allenby neighborhood of Toronto and Mitch almost feels overwhelmed by all the families living on his street. Not that his new neighbors take any notice of him. The witching magic hides his home from view and people can only see it if they have a need for his services.

     The first thing Mitch does is design his garden. It's mid-summer but students from the university will be searching for something to relieve their homesickness and heartbreak when they return. Mitch needs to be ready by the time school starts.

     The Ministry had enough foresight to give him a layout of the house and yard and Mitch spends the first week digging new plots and planting the cuttings he was able to fit into his car. His mom brings the rest in her van the next week.

     Mitch's stipend from the Ministry is very generous for a young singleton with no children, and when he's not making charms to smooth the tensions in a newly blended family, giving advice on how to soothe a pet with separation anxiety, or a thousand other domestic magics, Mitch works on his house. He buys heavy stoneware dishes, hangs a dozen mugs on the wall, and fills his cupboards with bright copper pots and pans. His living room furniture is all overstuffed and chocolate-colored. The kitchen group is blonde, and the dining room group is cherry. Mitch buys rag rugs for the kitchen. He loves the tile, but it gets too cold in the mornings. He hangs a porch swing in the back.

     Mitch is adopted by a black cat with grumpy face his second day in Toronto. He names the beast Severus Snape and the two soon come to an understanding. Mitch feeds Severus, rescues him when he gets stuck in a tree, and allows him to run and hide when his mom brings Duchess and Rupert for a visit. In return, Severus alerts Mitch to people at the front gate by yowling, spitting, and hissing before retreating to the safety of the bedroom.

     It's not the warm and fuzzy relationship Mitch was hoping for, but he likes having another creature in the house with him. He soon learns that if he stays in one place long enough, Severus will appear, as if conceding that being the same room as Mitch is something he enjoys.

     Mitch is 24 when he meets his Intended. He's just put the ladder back in its place when the air around him suddenly warps and his chest feels like someone is ringing a heavy brass bell behind his sternum. He grips the ladder. Breathes in. Breathes out.

     It's time for him to put some work in.

 

**AUSTON (Plus One Equals Three)**

     At 30, Auston Matthews knows that he is a lucky man.

     He's living a fairy-tale romance; he and Mitch share a soul and a heart. He wears the "C" for one of the oldest hockey teams in North America; he has a Stanley Cup. He gets paid millions of dollars for his efforts; his family will never want for anything that is within his power to provide.

     His team likes to laugh at his devotion but Auston doesn't care. They are all jealous because they don't have a Mitch to come home to. Auston doesn't care that he must stand on sidewalk across the street from their home when he throws a team party because of the witching magic won't let the guys see the house. He doesn't care that Mitch's contract with the Ministry supersedes his own contact with the Leafs. If Mitch moves, the law states that Auston moves too. Most of the time he doesn't care that he doesn't live in the York Mills or Bridle Path neighborhoods like some of his teammates. Mitch needs to stay in Allenby and this is where they share their life together.

     Auston does care about Mitch's safety. Auston is afraid that being with him makes Mitch an easy target for people who have a grudge against witches or a beef with Auston personally or the team in general. He’s afraid he’ll fail.

     His fear was the cause of their biggest fight and almost drove Mitch from his life. Mitch had accused him wrap him in cotton wool. Prevent him from being available to people in need. Some people don't like witches and other people might think that Auston Matthews should love someone else instead. That isn’t going to stop Mitch from living his life and he doesn't need or want a savior.

     Mitch might love Auston more than he's loved anyone, but he won't allow Auston to make choices for him or pressure him to step away from magic. His work brings him joy and gives him a sense of accomplishment. With magic, he is more than just Auston's beautiful arm-candy; Mitch won't allow anyone to take his work away from him.

     Mitch had been crying when he'd kicked Auston out of his house, telling him that they could talk when Auston got back from his Pacific Division circus trip.

     It had been the worst two weeks of Auston's life. He couldn't lead his team on or off the ice. He couldn't score, and the team couldn't win. Babcock yelled at the team night after night, but he couldn't care. Auston was forced to keep phone appointments with a sports psychologist back home and only confessed because he had no one else to talk to. He felt hollow and slept when he wasn't required to be somewhere else. Mitch didn’t contact him the entire time.

     When Mitch met him at Pearson International at two in the morning, Auston didn't know what he was allowed. Mitch just held his arms out and Auston clung; Mitch smelled like snow and something spicy Auston doesn't have a name for. When they pulled apart, Mitch looked Auston straight on and his gaze was unwavering.

     Auston was forgiven this time but would not be again.

     Auston is sad that today, there are still people who think witches are evil. He is livid that Mitch's biological family has never apologized. He would love to invite every newspaper and TV station into their home for some fluffy human-interest story to show these people what they turned their backs on, what they gave up, but he does not. Auston is angry that one of the first things he has to say at the beginning of every season is that he married to a male witch and if anybody or their family has a problem with that, Toronto might not be the locker room for them. He hates that there are some spouses that don't want to be in the family box with Mitch. Auston would like to shout at these people that as Auston's husband, Mitch outranks them all, but he does not.

      Auston loves playing at the ACC because Mitch is always somewhere watching him. He likes to sit in the stands with a rotating cast of seat mates in whatever section appeals to him. Sometimes it's a friend from Action Canada or the carrier shelter where Mitch volunteers. Sometimes another witch sits with him. Sometimes he sits alone.

     The best times is when Mitch sits with their mothers because Auston will always find pictures on his phone. The pictures of Ema and Mitch are all big smiles, big hugs, and big celebrations. The pictures of Gretchen and Mitch are different but no less loved. Auston has pictures of two hands squeezing hard. Of Gretchen, in profile, watching the play. Of mother and son tucked together, his chin on top of her head.

     Auston shaken from his memories when the mattress suddenly shifts and 25lbs of cat and 50lbs of greyhound make themselves comfortable on the California king. Artemis had been his engagement gift to Mitch who hasn’t been interested in a ring. The door to the bathroom opens and Mitch comes out, wearing a t-shirt and sweats that clearly belong to Auston and the bed's occupants shuffle around to make room.

     The two men reach out for each other because this is the first time in a week that Auston has been able to sleep in his own bed. They both need the skin contact; even after the two rounds sex earlier in the day. Turing on his side, Mitch throws a leg over Auston's thighs and cups his face. Auston knows what is coming, this is his favorite expression of Hearth magic. This is the sharing of memories, of their path together. He can feel Mitch's eyelashes against his skin, butterfly kisses, and then the wave of feeling pulls him under.

     Auston's first memory of Mitch; a beautiful man with eyes like a hot summer day and a backwards Maple Leafs ball cap. Their second meeting in the produce section of the grocery store and Mitch blithely putting apples in a bag, suggesting that Auston ask him to dinner. Their first kiss. The time they discovered that Mitch can't skate. The time Mitch learned the hard way to keep Auston out of the garden. Sex; all Auston's promises and words of love swirling like lace under Mitch's skin. The fear of meeting the other's mom. Their tiny wedding at the Ministry in Ottawa.

     As Auston resurfaces, he feels like something is missing. Their story has never felt incomplete before. Mitch rolls them; Auston on his back, Mitch straddling him. Their foreheads touch and Mitch places one of Auston's hands on the lower part of his abdomen. For a minute, Auston is confused.

     Suddenly, there is a picture in his head, a tiny star flanked by two enormous suns. There is a smell: spring rain, wet dirt, new life. A second picture: a newborn wearing a Leafs onesie sleeps in the Stanley Cup.

     Mitch's voice in his head: _He's going to be so much like you. I just know it._

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first piece I have chosen to flush out instead of just playing with it in my head and I want to credit the other creators who's work encouraged me to write this down.
> 
> I have no personal knowledge of the neighborhoods of Ottawa or Toronto. I used Google and tried to make an educated guess. If a local has a suggestion, I would not take offence. 
> 
> Please forgive the mixing of past, present, and future tenses.


End file.
